LittleFugitive Reviews

The Mist (2007)

What an awesome movie!....(spoiler alert)

[9/10 · 14 March 2008]

....if you stop watching it 2 minutes before the actual ending.

Darabont made a superb adaptation of King's best short story, but he killed the ending. Bad CGI and shallow social commentary aside, the tension and character development were better than most other horror movies. And my imagination is still reeling! "The Mist" grips you for 2 straight hours and doesn't let go.

But just... that ending! It's cheap, and it's meaningless. It doesn't fit the mood of the rest of the story. It's outright despicable. Yes, it is as bad as you've heard.

Just stop watching the movie once you see the big creature at the end. THE END. :)

8 out of 10.

Gosford Park (2001)

Worst murder mystery ever!

[1/10 · 19 July 2002]

Witless, slow, and boring, this Oscar-winning dud tries to wow the audience with more suspicious characters and red herrings than previous films of the genre. Served Altman-style, such contrivances serve to irritate rather than impress. The homogenous cast of loathsome characters look and act so much alike that it's a struggle keeping track of who's who. Unfortunately, in the end... the very bad end... that effort doesn't pay off.

Altman fails once again due to lack of charisma, emotion, and urgency.

Pretentious and banal: the worst kind of movie. 1 out of 10.

The Mighty (1998)

Overwrought tear-jerker with great actors

[5/10 · 16 April 2002]

Was this a Sharon Stone film? Or was Miramax angling from the start to throw an Oscar-worthy contender into the role of the mother and market the film as a best-supporting-actress vehicle? It's only too bad that all the other supporting characters, played to perfection by James Gandolfini, Jillian Anderson, Harry Dean Stanton, and most especially Gena Rowlands, were simply not fleshed out enough in the script to merit award status. I was thoroughly impressed with the child actors, whose names should have received top billing. Meatloaf, as always, is fun to watch.

But acting aside, this film was sheer crap, wrought with cliche, sentimentality, and oh-so-pretty music to disguise the fact that this is a really lame story, re-told ad nauseum, which had nothing new to offer. "Loved the music!"... From now on when anyone tells me they "loved the music" from a movie I will refuse to watch it. Directors tend to use the musical score as a crutch to paint over their mistakes. When the entire score is THAT good, clue into the fact that he's blowing smoke in your eyes to hide the inherent flaw of the movie: that the story itself, from beginning to end, is flawed.

7-out-of-10, for acting alone.

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Incredible

[9/10 · 7 October 2001]

Possible spoilers to follow...

I love this movie. DeNiro's final opium-induced smile was the most heartbreaking moment I've ever seen in a film. If you look at the entire 1960's story-line as an opium-induced dream in which the younger Noodles is trying to make himself feel better by imagining a future in which Max hasn't died, but in fact has exacted his revenge on him by stealing Noodle's life from him, then that smile is an awesome and beautiful expression of guilt, and coping with the loss of a loved one.

Never, ever watch the watered-down 2-hour version. You will be sorely disappointed.

On a par with The Godfather. 10/10.

The Innocents (1961)

Slow, stupid movie. Beautifully shot.

[5/10 · 7 October 2001]

Pacing was too slow, Deb Kerr overacted, sound effects were annoying, and the ending was oh so very, very bad.

But, man, what great cinematography! Especially that shot of the creepy woman staring across the lake. Subtle and very effective. Definitely ahead of its time.

6 out of 10.